Seven goals in just ten Bundesliga games. And that for a newcomer in the bottom of the table. And yet hardly anyone has Phil Harres on their list – yet.
In the mid-1980s, the British punk band “Toy Dolls” decided to cover a children’s song. The trio from the northern English city of Sunderland reissued “Nellie The Elephant” – and landed their biggest hit. So big that it spilled over into Germany. Borussia Dortmund fans heard it four times last Tuesday during the 2-4 debacle, because “Nellie The Elephant” is Holstein Kiel’s goal anthem.
Phil Harres was responsible for one of the four times. In the 32nd minute, the Kiel center forward hammered a cross from the right side into the net with his head. Pure ecstasy in the Holstein Stadium, cheers in all the fan blocks. And there was no stopping the goalscorer himself either.
At the beginning of the season hardly anyone knew the name of Phil Harres, who is only 22 years old, but he is now the man of the hour. Harres already has seven Bundesliga goals to his name – just as many as Serhou Guirassy (BVB), Florian Wirtz (Bayer Leverkusen) or Jonas Wind (VfL Wolfsburg). The difference: Harres only needed ten games.
Dortmund, Bochum, Münster, Dresden, Ulm, Berlin, Homburg, Kiel. Phil Harres’ career reads like a wild scavenger hunt through the Republic. He begins in his birthplace of Datteln, a town in the northern Ruhr area. From there he went to Borussia Dortmund at a young age. His youth coach at the time, Gary Gordon, is now his advisor.
In an interview with t-online, Gordon remembers the young Phil Harres: “I noticed early on that he was something special. At his first youth tournament with BVB in Gdansk, he scored one goal after the other. Phil was very introverted, a quiet boy. But very ambitious on the pitch.” Harres’ athleticism is impressive and he likes to celebrate goals with a somersault.
But his advantage turns into a disadvantage shortly afterwards. “When he hit a growth spurt during puberty, he lacked coordination,” says Gordon. Harres no longer has the same feel for the ball and the pace is also decreasing. Gordon knows the phenomenon from other teenagers and remains calm. “When the boys are 15 or 16 years old, their coordination comes back,” he adds. But BVB decides differently. Harres has no future in Dortmund.
And so the wild journey through the republic begins. His longest stop is in Dresden, where he initially plays for Dynamo Dresden in the youth ranks and then makes his professional debut in the Saxony Cup. However, there will be no league games for the first team for the time being. There is no getting around players like Christoph Daferner and Ransford-Yeboah Königsdörffer (now HSV).
So young Phil Harres is awarded. First to SSV Ulm in the Regionalliga Südwest for a year, then to Viktoria Berlin in the Regionalliga Nordost. His coach in the capital is Semih Keskin, who remembers his time with today’s Bundesliga top scorer well: “Berlin is a lively city where you can get up to a lot of practical jokes. But Phil didn’t do that. He was a quiet guy , very disciplined, prepared and followed up the training. There were no escapades, completely unspectacular.”
While his teammates tend to come up with stupid ideas, Harres stays focused. The noisy metropolis makes it easy for quiet country lovers. “Berlin wasn’t for me at all,” he remembers today in the club’s own interview.